Taxi touting

[churchill123]

i was charged with taxi touting last week. I was walking towards my car when a man pretending to be lost approached me whilst i was waiting to cross the rd towwards my parked car. I asked him if he was ok as he looked lost and confused. He said he was lost as he was not from the area and that he was trying to get to his hotel in kings cross , london. I pointed out to him he was walking in the opposite direction and that he had to walk the othher way to get to kings cross stn. He seemed genuinely lost. As i was going past kings x stn on my way home and it was only 500 metres away i said to him il drop him off there where he can get his bearings again and find hiw way from there as he claimed he would. No mention of any reward or money was made by anyone. I was going to do it as a act of kindness. I like to think if i was in a large city like london and was lost being from another area someone would direct me and help me like i was willing to do. Anyway as we walked towards my car he pulledout a warrant card and identified himself to be a policeman. He arrested me, handcuffed me, and placed me at the back seat of my car. He then prepared a statemtn on the roadside and asked me to sign it, which i refused. We then went to police stn and interview was conducted. In interview we contradicted each other as to who approached who. Also i asked him to confirm if i had asked for any money or did he offer any money in return for a lift. He confirmed i NEVER. He also confirmed that he DID say he was lost and was looking to get to kings cross. I was still charged with taxi touting. After interview he changed in his behaviour towards me. Pre interview he was cocky, confident and friendly. Post interview hee was seething because i asked him if money was involved in our convos. Presumably no money or reward=no touting or very difficult to prove!! Will this get thrown out of court do you think? Feedback would be grateful....thanks

[gingejbee]

Agree with Edd. This makes me feel very uncomfortable, glad it wasn't me!

[churchill123]

thnks eddie....i have to go to court next wednesday for first appearance, presumably to plead guilty or not guilty. I think if it goes to trial someone with any common sense would realise this is some miscarriage of justcice and a waste of proper court time and money. Im just glad i had the presence of mind to keep quiet at the roadside and spoke during interview when i got him to admit no money was offered or asked for. After interview he even said you will probably get let off anyway!! I think the police are just interested in arresting people to get their DNA database stocked up. Ive nevr been convicted of any offence in my life so this was all new to me. Not a pleasant experience. I will make a complaint to the police complaints commission after any trial.
Or should i do it now to try and get them to drop the case?

[DocHH]

If I was in your situation, I think I would refer the matter to the IPCC immediately, and inform the police station, to which you were taken, that you have done that. At least then they can decide if they wish to proceed, if they do, at court you can say that you have taken those actions. It seems to me as if you have been lured into a situation where you could be seen to have broken the law. If my memory serves me right it is called entrapment, and I rather think the police are not allowed to do that.

I think your approach in terms of asking if a fare was requested is valid, if he also said he was lost, that should surely be questionable, I would have thought any police officer worth his salt on duty in the area covered by his own police station should know the area like the back of his hand! Hopefully you can also demonstrate that you do not earn money as a mini-cab driver!

I also agree with EDDIE51 about demanding an apology, and I suggest you take legal advice about suing for wrongful arrest.

I also agree with gingejbee, glad it wasn't me. I also agree that if I was in a city and lost, I'd like to think there would be good samaritan to help me!

[hc4361]

What time of day was this? Was it a weekend?
Any previous?

[DocHH]

EDDIE51, I definitely agree with all the content of your last post on this!

[andy-hughes]

From now on, conduct all your dealings by post - absolutely no phone calls, and if you are asked to attend an interview, take a tape recorder in with you, and do it like they do - "Interview commenced at 09:00 hours, present are myself churchill 123 and Constable number ..."

If they try to refuse you the right to record, refuse to speak and walk out - if you are not under arrest, you are there, or not, of your own free will.

Good luck.

[hc4361]

The London taxi officials, and the Hackney Carriage Assoc will not be interested in this. They are sick to the back teeth of illegal taxis and support the police clamp down.

I still want to know what day and time this happened and if the OP has any previous.

[boxtops]

From a layman's perspective, this looks like entrapment to me - if you have no previous, why would he pick on you?
I must admit that it's not something I would consider doing, taking a stranger in my car, but you made what you thought was a genuine innocent offer.

[fredpuli47]

What kind of illegal cabbie looks for a fare of 500 metres ? Apart from anything else, he's running a grave risk that the fare will refuse to pay, feeling cheated. Is our hero maintaining that you stopped him from getting out or had the means to do so?. I bet he was on a patrol to stop touting and if he went back to the nick with nothing to show for it, questions would be asked as to what kind of copper can't nick anyone on a King's Cross run, a favourite destination for unlicensed cabs, particularly at night.(Hence no doubt his choice of it) I wonder when he was due off shift? My guess is about 5 minutes from when he nicked you!

Entrapment may be treated as an abuse of process, or evidence obtained by it may excluded, but whether any case falls within it depends on the facts of each case. Here the prosecution would argue that you instigated (!) this by approaching someone whom you believed to be a member of the public and it falls short of entrapment. Had the policeman been looking for a car and letting it be known around he'd pay good money to anyone who'd take him it would be closer to it, since then he would be setting out to induce anyone who would approach him ,ask and offer to take him, to commit an offence, which they would not otherwise be minded or tempted to commit.

[bobjugs12]

........jackanory........

[sandyRoe]

When this case gets to court the policeman has only to say that you asked if he wanted a taxi.
As you've been charged, I think this is exactly what he will do.

[churchill123]

When i was arrested and waiting for transport to take me back to the police station the officer did ask me if i had been arrsted for this kind of thing before i.e taxi touting...to which i replied NO. He then said in that case you will probably get a caution etc..before asking me to sign a prepared statemnt in the back of my car whils handcuffed. I refused to do this. This happened at 3.20am! i was returning home from a gig in central london which my cousin was performing at. I only stopped to get food from macdonalds in corner of oxford street junction with t.ct rd when this incident occured. The macdonalds unknown to me was not a 24hrs one but one that closed at 3am! i was arrested at about 3.20am. Also when we went back to the station the officer who arrested me was not authorised to use LIVESCAN. The duty seargent told him everyone who works for met police is authorised to use it and that he was going to put him on the system in due course. In the meantime he was to use a fellow officers i.d to log into the system. Another thing i should mention is that while this officer was asking me for directions there was no other police officer around, so its his version of events against mine. The one thing i managed to was get him to admit about the money and the fact he claimed to have been lost on tape which i knew would be the only thing that could determine whether i was touting or not. I do feel disappointed. I appreciate touts are a problem. Indeed since my arrest i learnt that whole area around charing x rd and shaftesbury ave has a touting problem which if im honest ive never really noticed. After the officer turned off the interview tape he literally turned colour, huffing and puffing. I think he realised about the money, as well as the lost story he claimed was now on tape. Im surprised he still charged me literally 5/6 minutes after interview. They placed me in a cell for no more than 4/5 minutes when he came back and took me to desk seargent and charged me.

[churchill123]

Thank you Andy, DOCHH, and EDDIE, great advice...feedback is much appreciated.

[churchill123]

To be fair the duty seargent looked bored and as if he just wanted to get home. The station i was taken to was different to the one my arresting officer was stationed at. Apparently when arrested they have to request cell space and go where directed. The duty seargent was quite rude towaqrds the officer, kept snapping at him. It just all seems strange. From time of arrest to time of release was less than 2 hours this includes interview, fingerprints, decision to charge...all within 2 hrs. I will be complaining to the IPCC now. At first i thought id go to court get it dropped and leave it at that, but now ive seen the feedback im getting this is more than a simple error on their part. Entrapment for one. Because but for the actions of the officer this alleged offence would not have occured hence entrapment.

[DocHH]

I hope things go well for you on wednesday. Please post here to keep us informed!